Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Dutch Baby with Lemon Sugar

April's issue of Gourmet had a lovely article featuring 5 different dessert recipes made with lemon and eggs. I was faced with the dilemma: which to make first?

The winner ended up being the Dutch Baby with Lemon Sugar. This is basically one huge popover that ends up being shaped like a bowl. Popovers are my weakness, so I'm not sure it was a fair contest for the other recipes.

Anything you would put on pancakes or waffles would work as a Dutch baby topping: fruits, powdered sugar, syrup. The Gourmet recipe uses lemon sugar, made by combining lemon zest with the sugar. I added the zest to the batter instead, and finished it off with a dusting of powdered sugar.

I followed the advice of several reviews and cut the butter back by half. They weren't kidding. Two tablespoons is more than enough butter to generously coat the pan.

Piping hot in the oven. Puffy!
Dutch Baby pancake

The center puff falls almost immediately once it's out of the oven.
Dutch Baby pancake

The crater, still dotted with melted butter from baking.
Dutch Baby pancake

Perfectly browned risen sides.
Dutch Baby pancake

Time for dessert! Or breakfast! Or brunch!
Dutch Baby pancake

I managed not to eat the entire thing in one night, refrigerated my leftovers wrapped in foil, and then reheated the foil-wrapped package in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes for breakfast.

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Recipe: Dutch Baby with Lemon Sugar from Gourmet magazine, April 2009

Space needed: Minimal
One bowl and an oven-safe skillet. If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, this would work fine in an 8" or 9" baking dish or cake pan. Baking time might need to be adjusted for a different size pan.

Cost: Under $5
My total came out to $2.52 for the whole dish. This makes 4-6 servings (depending on serving size), so you'd be looking at anywhere between $0.42 and $0.63 per serving.

Recipe amounts: Sugar - $0.15; Lemon - $0.67; Eggs - $0.45; Milk - $0.30 ; Flour - $0.15; Vanilla - $0.20 ; Cinnamon - $0.05; Nutmeg - $0.05 ; Butter - $0.50